


Loves of Your Life

by boneslen



Series: Cursive on Your Wrist [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst, Fluff, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, no matter which you ship more, this fic is for you
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-16
Updated: 2019-01-15
Packaged: 2019-10-11 00:12:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17436155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boneslen/pseuds/boneslen
Summary: It was a natural phenomenon that no one could really explain. When you become seventeen years of age, the name of your soulmate appears on your left wrist in cursive black ink at the exact time you were born.Oikawa and Iwaizumi have been dating for a while now, truly in love with one another. But they're not soulmates. However, on Oikawa's seventeenth birthday, he finds out that his soulmate is actually his top nemesis, Ushijima. Oikawa has to deal with his conflicting feelings for both of the boys he ends up loving, and in the end, he has to choose which one he'll spend the rest of his life with.And which one he'll leave.





	Loves of Your Life

It was a natural phenomenon that no one could really explain. When you become seventeen years of age, the name of your soulmate appears on your left wrist in cursive black ink at the exact time you were born.

 

Every morning, Oikawa woke up early to run, for the feeling of the brisk morning air flowing with his body as the golden sun rose was the reason he loved to live another day. 

It was his birthday. His seventeenth birthday. And even though it was his birthday, he still ran. It takes twenty one days to build a habit, and Oikawa wouldn’t let one lazy birthday ruin all the progress he’d built up. Plus, running was something he loved. Something he breathed in with delight. Something that fueled him and his craze for volleyball. 

As Oikawa started his quick pace, he started to let his mind wander. Seventeen. That meant today was the day he found out the name of his soulmate. At exactly 7:55 am, the time he was born, he would know. That was about an hour away, and at that time, the words of his soulmate would be written in lovely black cursive on his wrist. 

Oikawa tried to stomach the nervousness and dread piling up in his stomach. He should be thrilled and stemming with anticipation. Normally, he would. Perhaps two years ago he would. But not anymore. 

Not since Iwaizumi Hajime. Oikawa’s boyfriend of one year and seven months. 

Oikawa had loved Iwaizumi since they were kids, and he only started to develop romantic feelings towards him when junior high started. He avoided those feelings, condemning them and what they meant, until Iwaizumi faced him one day. 

 

“Oikawa,” Iwaizumi announced. Oikawa turned to look at his best friend, who was red. 

“Yeah?”

They were walking home together, and Iwaizumi had been quiet the whole time. Oikawa didn’t want to pressure Iwaizumi into discussing his feelings if he didn’t want to, so the two boys walked together side by side in silence. Until Iwaizumi broke it. 

“Oikawa, I like you.”

The burning of Iwaizumi’s face and the slight tremble in his words confirmed that this “like” was of a romantic nature. 

 

After a slightly awkward and embarrassing conversation in Oikawa’s room, they started a relationship. It was natural. They had a comfortable and mutually understanding relationship. At first, calling each other their boyfriend was a bit strange. 

But then the pet names came easy as well. 

Then everything turned kind of tense and strained when Iwaizumi’s birthday began to approach. 

“Soulmates aren’t...they aren’t real,” Iwaizumi said out of the blue one day. Him and Oikawa were holding hands as they walked to volleyball practice. 

Oikawa shot Iwaizumi a peculiar look, urging him to continue. 

“Come on. I mean, who cares if there’s a random name on your wrist. Chance is, you’ll probably never meet them. People shouldn’t base their whole life on a name of a stranger. Move on. Choose someone else. Someone you actually know.”

That warmed Oikawa’s heart. He had been worrying about Iwaizumi’s soulmate situation for a while. But to know that Iwaizumi didn’t even believe in soulmates—well that was wonderful. 

“Yeah, I agree,” Oikawa earnestly replied. “In the end, soulmates don’t even matter. It’s you and me, Iwa-chan.”

“You and me.”

 

On June tenth, at 8:10 am, Iwaizumi looked down at his wrist and saw the name Katsuki Erina. He gently rubbed at it, but the soft black cursive didn’t smudge. It was real. This Katsuki Erina was his soulmate. Whoever that was.

 

Two hours later, Oikawa saw. And his heart dropped. Even though he already came to realization that him and Iwaizumi would most likely not be soulmates, the truth was still cold and bitter. 

 

That night, as Iwaizumi held Oikawa close, he kissed Oikawa’s cheek and gently said “you and me” once again. It was their saying. No matter how simple it sounded, it was a reminder that they were each other’s one and only. No one else. 

 

Oikawa continued to run through the town, music blaring in his ears, as a lame attempt to block out the slightly noisy blur of the morning. For some reason, his stomach kept turning with worry. He knew he wouldn’t have Iwaizumi’s name on his wrist, simply because Iwaizumi didn’t have Oikawa’s name in his wrist. Oikawa dully wondered if his soulmate would be someone he knew. Hopefully not. That would make it easier on him. 

Too deep in his thoughts, Oikawa tripped on an uneven break in the sidewalk. He outstretched his hands to stop the fall, but ended up scraping his palms and tumbled hard to the ground.

For a moment, Oikawa lay there, acknowledging the pain and letting it seep through his body. 

“Aghhh,” he slightly moaned, thinly gasping for air.

Gingerly, Oikawa pushed himself off the ground. He stood, slightly swaying, then checked himself. His hands weren’t terribly injured, just some stinging scrapes, and his knees ached from the impact. And his ankle, well, his ankle hurt terribly. 

Oikawa tried to walk forward, but the pain in his ankle was a bit too much. He could hardly put any weight on it without collapsing to the ground. Oikawa stumbled again, and almost fell a second time. Frantically, he looked around for a possible hospital or place where he could get some help. The nearby road signs read “Sendai”. 

Sendai was the capital of the Miyagi prefecture. Oikawa realized just how far he’d been running. For some reason, the name Sendai rang another bell. He knew some school was from Sendai. It wasn’t Karasuno, no, maybe it was--

Then Oikawa saw it. He wasn’t sure how he didn’t notice it before, perhaps he was so engrossed in his thoughts and his running that everything else drowned to the background. 

It was an enormous school, with the name “Shiratorizawa Academy” on the front of the gates. 

“No way in hell,” Oikawa spit out, remembering that his arch enemy, Ushijima Wakatoshi, was the ace of that school’s volleyball club. “No way am I asking that bastard, or anyone from his school, for help.”

Oikawa fumbled for his phone in one of his pockets, then realized in horror that it was dead. All the energy seeped out of Oikawa. 

Devastated, Oikawa whined loudly, “Today is already going to shit and it’s my birthday!”

“Happy birthday.”

A low, emotionless voice ripped Oikawa out of his sorrow. Oikawa turned around quickly, but while making sure he didn’t injure himself any more. Of course it was him. Ushijima stood there, looking stoic, and as if he had been running as well.

Surprised and embarrassed, Oikawa flushed a deep color. He didn’t want his enemy to see him in this weak state. He couldn’t believe how bad this birthday was already going, and it wasn’t even 7 am. 

“You.”

Ushijima didn’t seem all too shocked at the sight of Oikawa and his apparent injured self. “Hello Oikawa. I never see you around here.”

Oikawa slightly kneeled down to rub his aching ankle. 

“I know. That’s on purpose, Ushiwaka-chan. Why would I come here? You’re here.”

An expression of slight dismay settled on Ushijima’s face. 

“You’re here too.” Ushijima then noticed that Oikawa’s face twisted even more, so he continued on to a different subject. “So it’s your birthday. Seventeenth?”

Pouting, Oikawa looked away. 

“Yes. And I tripped and fell and now my knees and hands hurt and I think I twisted my ankle and I’m here in your crappy town and my phone is dead and now you’re here, patronizing me. On my birthday!” Oikawa’s words rushed out in one big complaint. He exhaled slowly when he finished, then fixed a hard look on Ushijima, as if daring him to respond in an equally harsh way. 

Ushijima maintained an expressionless reaction, then stepped closer to Oikawa. 

“I’m sorry about all that. I didn’t mean to patronize.” 

After a brief moment of silence, Ushijima continued. “Do you need assistance? My school is right there and they have a nurse.”

Oikawa looked up at Ushijima with doubting eyes. “Shiratorizawa? The enemy?”

Ushijima frowned in response and folded his arms. 

“Do I look like the enemy right now? Offering you help?”

If possible, Oikawa blushed even more. Here he was, injured and defenseless, with Ushijima raining down blows on him without even trying to be rude. 

“Shut up, moron,” Oikawa pathetically countered. 

He glanced at the entrance to Shiratorizawa. If he was in this much pain, maybe getting some help wouldn’t be a terrible idea. Even if it was at Shiratorizawa.

Slowly and carefully, Oikawa stepped towards the school, but quickly keeled over because of the pain of his ankle. “Ouchhh. Iwa-chan is going to kill me.”

“Let me help,” Ushijima interjected, noticing how Oikawa could barely walk. 

“No way!” Oikawa spit back, forcing himself to walk towards Shiratorizawa. He only took two steps when his ankle gave out and he went to tumble to the floor once again. Before he could, Ushijima reached out, grabbed him by his sides, and held him up. 

“You’re going to fall into the street and die if you keep trying to walk on your own,” Ushijima said nonchalantly. 

Oikawa scowled at him in return. “So rude!”

Even though Oikawa knew Ushijima was right and actually thinking clearly, the proximity and touch of his nemesis was too much to handle. If he had a bit more strength and if everything didn’t ache as it did, he would’ve pushed Ushijima away and made a break for it. 

But instead, he fell towards Ushijima even more, who gracefully caught him. 

“I’ll carry you.”

“You will not!” Oikawa insisted childishly, but he could do nothing to prevent Ushijima from bending down slightly and picking up Oikawa, holding him bridal style. 

The situation was rather ridiculous, and Oikawa would’ve preferred that Ushijima just drop him in the middle of the street to be run over. That would be less humiliating than be carried into the school by Ushijima. But nonetheless, Oikawa withheld his complaints and huffed in response. 

Oikawa reluctantly wrapped one hand around Ushijima’s neck and the other entangled in his shirt as Ushijima began to head towards his school. 

The setter kept his head low, staring at the “Shiratorizawa Academy” logo on Ushijima’s shirt. He knew that if he looked up and around, he would probably see people staring. It was a quite awkward and strange situation. 

“Are you okay?” Ushijima asked, sounding genuinely sincere and caring. He looked down at Oikawa with his intense olive eyes that sometimes seriously unnerved Oikawa. 

Instead of answering, Oikawa responded with another question. In a rare shy manner, he asked, “why are you so nice to me? All I ever am is rude to you.”

As the two finally entered the main Shiratorizawa building, Ushijima was silent for a bit. Then he answered. 

“I know you hate me because we beat your team every tournament. Therefore, you don’t hate me for who I am. And I can accept that you’re mad at the situation. So I don’t think it’s direct hatred.” Ushijima stopped in his tracks and his ears turned slightly red. 

“I’m rambling, sorry. I don’t really know what I’m saying, but just…I think you’re a good person. We just never really had the chance to get along because of volleyball and being on different teams.”

“You wanted me to come to Shiratorizawa.”

Ushijima nodded and continued to walk down the long hallway of Shiratorizawa. “Yes. Because I think you would’ve been great here. Even greater, I mean. And we would’ve been friends.”

For some reason, being that close up against Ushijima and hearing this confession of his, Oikawa’s heart warmed. Perhaps he had been too harsh and quick to judge. 

Without hesitating, Oikawa reached up and ruffled Ushijima’s hair. 

“You’re a good guy, Ushiwaka-chan. Sorry for being so mean to you.”

Oikawa swear he saw Ushijima blushing, but at that moment they entered the nurses office. Ushijima plopped Oikawa gingerly on a bed, and signaled a nurse over. 

“He needs help.”

The nurse gave Ushijima a “no shit” look, then turned her attention to Oikawa. For about thirty minutes, the nurse patched up Oikawa. She cleaned and bandaged his hands, then wrapped tight ace bandages around his knees. Since Oikawa did, in fact, twist his ankle, the nurse carefully wrapped it as well, and gave him ice pack. 

After scolding Oikawa about being clumsy and distracted while running, the nurse left with one last harrumph. 

Ushijima dug through his pockets, then pulled out his phone. Warily, he handed it to Oikawa, wondering if he would even take it. “I remember you said your phone was dead. Want to use mine?”

Oikawa smiled lightly, and bent his head slightly. “Thanks, Ushiwaka-chan.”

As Oikawa reached out for the phone, both he and Ushijima saw light black words beginning to appear on the inside of Oikawa’s left wrist. 

It was 7:55 AM.

The time Oikawa was born seventeen years ago. 

Oikawa stomach flipped, and he realized he had been so distracted by everything that had just happened that he totally forgot about the significance of today. The name of his soulmate was slowly appearing on his skin, in such lovely black cursive. 

“Your soulmate,” Ushijima said, surprised at the sight. “It looks....it looks…”

The cursive began to look legible, and Oikawa was able to start making sense of the words. He didn’t really care too much that he was sharing this important moment with Ushijima. This last hour had proved that Oikawa could trust him.

But then Oikawa read the full name. It was there, now in dark, midnight black ink on his wrist. 

No way. No way in hell. 

At the same moment, Oikawa and Ushijima’s heads whipped up and their eyes met, in a frantic and shocked look. 

Very slowly and unbelievingly, Oikawa glanced down at his wrist once again. The name written in delicate cursive was Ushijima Wakatoshi. 

“How?” Oikawa barely muttered out, confused and hurt and incredibly astonished. “You’re my soulmate?”

Ushijima was silent, but Oikawa had never seen so much emotion on his face. Ushijima gently pulled up his own sleeve, revealing a blank wrist. “My birthday is in about a month. I didn’t know...I had no idea.”

Without responding, Oikawa snatched Ushijima’s phone and dialed Iwaizumi. Iwaizumi, his wonderful boyfriend who he loved with all his heart. Who wasn’t his soulmate and who never would be. 

“Who is this?” Iwaizumi’s voice was clear and apprehensive, but Oikawa almost sobbed at the relief of hearing it. It was such a comfort to hear Iwaizumi’s voice.

“Iwa-chan…”

“Oikawa?” Iwaizumi immediately sounded concerned. “Where are you? You never run for this long? Whose phone number are you using?”

“Iwa-chan,” Oikawa repeated, and his voice cracked on the name. He was about to cry. This day was too much, and it was hardly over. He couldn’t believe, he truly couldn’t believe, that his soulmate was Ushijima. No matter how nice he had been to Oikawa, and no matter how friendly they had been today, Oikawa was still torn with shock and despair. 

“Just tell me where you are,” Iwaizumi said in a desperate and distraught way. 

Oikawa glanced up at Ushijima and sniffled. Ushijima wasn’t looking at Oikawa. In fact, he seemed to be very deep in thought. Oikawa couldn’t blame him. This entire situation was...shocking. 

“I’m at Shiratorizawa Academy. Please come.”

With a few parting words, Oikawa hung up and handed the phone back to Ushijima, who was so distracted that he didn’t even notice until Oikawa gently nudged him.

“Ushiwaka-chan?”

Ushijima stared at Oikawa, his eyes full of clouded emotions that Oikawa had no chance at deciphering. 

“Your phone.”

“Oh.” Ushijima took it back and pocketed it, his actions automatic. Then he exhaled, his body slumping as he did so. 

For a few minutes, the two of them sat in silence, mulling over what had just happened. Oikawa rubbed his wrist, but the black ink was permanent and didn’t smudge. This was real. Ushijima was his soulmate. How would Iwaizumi react? Would anything change? How was Ushijima feeling? Did he care? Did he want them to be together? Oikawa knew he couldn’t do that to Iwaizumi. 

“We’re soulmates.” Ushijima’s low voice broke the tense silence. 

Oikawa’s mouth was dry as he tried to respond quickly. “I-I have a boyfriend. I’m sorry, but I love him. I’m not going to leave him.”

Nodding, Ushijima seemed to accept this fact rather easily. 

“Okay. I’m not asking you to leave him. If you want, we can move on from this. Ignore our connection and what we have and could have together. If you want, the names on our wrists can just be meaningless marks.”

“But,” Ushijima said, his eyes slightly lighting up before he continued. “I ask you, please give us a chance. Soulmates are each other’s halves, and I know I would love you until the end of our days. We could be incredibly happy with each other.”

A flood of emotions filled Oikawa. All the pain from his fall seemed to fade away as Ushijima’s hopeful plead washed over Oikawa. 

“Ushiwaka-chan...I don’t even know, I don’t...my boyfriend....and you’re a great person, you’re actually really nice, as I realized today, and I think, yeah, maybe we could be good...maybe we could, but I don’t know, and--”

Oikawa’s ramble was cut off by the jarring sound of the door whipping open. Iwaizumi entered the nurses office, his eyes wide and he quickly surveyed the room for Oikawa. When Iwaizumi saw him, his body relaxed and he approached Oikawa with haste. Iwaizumi seemed to not even notice Ushijima until he was standing right besides the both of them.

“Oh, Ushijima.”

Ushijima nodded at Iwaizumi and then glanced back at Oikawa. Oikawa hadn’t been able to respond to Ushijima’s proposal yet.

Iwaizumi directed his focus towards Oikawa, noticing his teary face, bandaged wrists, knees, and ankle. “Are you okay? What happened? Want to rest some more here? Or we can leave.”

“We can leave,” Oikawa said in a hurry. He didn’t want to be here in this tense situation any longer. “I’ll tell you about what happened later.”

As the two headed to the door, Iwaizumi wrapped an arm around Oikawa’s waist to stabilize him and keep him steady. Before Oikawa left the room, he turned back to Ushijima.

“Thank you. For everything.”

Ushijima stood from the chair where he was sitting on to face Oikawa. He didn't want him to go just yet. They had so much to discuss. But for now, Ushijima settled with “your welcome. I hope you feel better soon. Goodbye, Oikawa.”

Oikawa paused, and stared at Ushijima, his eyes full of hesitation.

“And about your...your question...okay. I’ll give--I’ll give it a chance.”

A ripple of surprise ran through Ushijima’s body, and he smiled, a really genuine and lovely smile that wasn’t often exposed to the world. Oikawa automatically smiled back, then he and Iwaizumi were gone.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked this first chapter! I'll try to update regularly. I am currently rewatching Haikyuu!! because of the news of S4, and I realized the great dynamics between Oikawa and Iwaizumi, and Oikawa and Ushijima. I thought this fic would be an interesting take on which pairing suits Oikawa better. Thanks for reading!


End file.
